Wireless monitoring of your laundry

July 24, 2005 Mac-Gray is America’s largest provider of laundry facilities management services to college and university residence halls, which makes the company’s latest announcement significant. The company is adding wireless capabilities for its LaundryView monitoring system so it can now connect to a school's network using either its wired or wireless network infrastructure. The LaundryView eMonitoring System, part of Mac-Gray's Intelligent Laundry Systems, enables students to have real-time information about the status of the washers and dryers in their campus laundry rooms from any device that has a web browser.It’s a small step but a significant one as it is the first of many that students will encounter in monitoring the many things that are important to them. This is the second Mac-Gray product we’ve featured in recent times, so we guess that makes the company on the extreme side of innovative. We’ve previously featured the company’s craftworks fridge (which looks like a tool chest) but it also makes energy-efficient MicroFridge appliances.

LaundryView's new wireless capability eliminates the need for colleges and universities to install a hard-wired Ethernet connection to its laundry rooms. By the start of the next academic year, more than 50 colleges and universities in nearly 20 states will have installed the LaundryView system.

"Adding wireless capabilities to our LaundryView system is beneficial to both our customers and to Mac-Gray," said Neil MacLellan, Mac-Gray's chief operating officer. "By eliminating the need for Ethernet connections on campuses with wireless networks, we have reduced the primary cost to customers for installing LaundryView. At the same time, we have expanded our potential market by making LaundryView a more cost-efficient and attractive option. Adopting the wireless feature also ensures that our technology remains state-of-the-art."

"Maintaining a wireless campus is essential to our community, whether it's in the classrooms or in the dorms," said Michael Vigna, Director of Dining Services and Vending Operations at Northeastern University. "Linking our laundry rooms into our wireless environment is a natural progression for the University. LaundryView is a convenient feature that is very popular with our students and one that Northeastern is proud to offer."